2 24 ALLEN S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



They may be said to be absolutely cosmopolitan in their range, 

 and no country is without them, as far as we know. 



I am indebted to Count Salvadori, who is engaged on the 

 twenty-seventh volume of the "Catalogue of Birds in the 

 British Museum," for giving me his scheme of classification of 

 the A7iseres for the benefit of the present volume ; and every 

 one who knows the excellence of that author's work will under- 

 stand that his advice has been of material assistance to me. 

 I have mainly followed the order of Mr. Howard Saunders 

 " Manual '' for the British species, which varies but little from 

 that adopted by the Count. My Order Anserifoj-mes is equiva- 

 lent to the Family Anatidt^ of Count Salvadori^ who divides the 

 Family into eleven vSub-families, with some of which, being ex- 

 clusively tropical forms, we need not concern ourselves further 

 in the present work. Following, therefore, as nearly as pos- 

 sible. Count Salvadori's system, and merely altering the order 

 of the Geese and Swans, we find that he divides the A?iafidcB 

 into three divisions, depending on the presence or absence of 

 a lobe on the hind-toe. Geese and Swans have no lobe, the 

 True Ducks have only a very narrow one ; while the Diving 

 Ducks and the Mergansers have a broad lobe. 



THE GEESE. SUB-FAAHLY ANSERIN.^. 



As already mentioned, the Geese are distinguished by the 

 absence of a lobe on the hind-toe, which is moderately large ; 

 the bill is stout and high at the base, and there is no cere. 

 They differ from the majority of Ducks in not having any 

 metallic colours in the plumage and no '• wing-speculum." 



The typical "Grey" Geese are mostly birds of the northern 

 parts of the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, the most 

 southern species being Anser indicus, which inhabits Central 

 Asia and the Indian Peninsula, and Nesoche7i satidwichejisis, 

 which is confined to the Sandwich Islands. All the species of 

 " Black" or Brent Geese are birds of the Arctic Regions, and 

 occur in temperate latitudes chiefly in winter. In the Southern 

 Hemisphere their place is taken by the Kelp Geese {Cloephagd) 

 of South America and the Maned Goose {Che?7o?iefta) of Aus- 

 tralia. 



Four species of Geese have been recorded as British, which 



